Washington Patients Disrupt Recreational Pot Hearing

SEATTLE, WA — The state agency overseeing legal cannabis in Washington State held a public forum in Seattle on final rules for pot businesses expected to open next year. Medical marijuana patients, angry that the state might target patient home growing rights and the hundreds of mostly-unregulated storefront pot sellers in the state, packed the speakers list to make their concerns heard.

The room was intensely raucous and divided, and speakers—including a trio of Larouchies who said they “show up to every council meeting to speak”—occasionally hurled epithets at the three liquor board members. It wasn’t until an hour in that someone finally asked a question about I-502 rules, which resulted in significant cheers.

Jake Ellison from the Seattle PIposted video of an early interaction, where the board asked a security guard to deal with a speaker who wouldn’t relinquish the microphone.

The night wasn’t all fuss and fight, however. According to the PI, at one point while discussing the rule that legal pot producers have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” 15-day window to get seeds and plant starts from anywhere, liquor board chair Sharon Foster joked, “I already hear that Washington has the best stuff.”

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